2010.10.16

Tofu and Chilies and Veggies, Oh My!

While in Chengdu last January we spent a few mornings at a small but fabulous wet market (you can read about it here). When we returned to the city last month we found that the market had become a construction site. In many Chinese cities this would be cause for sadness. But Chengdu is bucking general trend away from traditional wet markets and even building new ones in the center of the city. We found that our little market had been moved up the street and around the corner into a big, new, covered home.

(Its copious traditional wet markets, by the way, were just one reason cited by UNESCO when the organization named Chengdu Asia's first City of Gastronomy.)

I love open markets like the one you described. The combined smells of all the produce that is around make for a wonderful aroma throughout. It makes for better cooking too when you use fresh ingredients and that picture really does look amazing.